Great cruise!

Item: Norwegian Gem
Rating: 4.9
Author: AnitaM56

Norwegian Gem Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

AnitaM56

Contributor Level: Second Mate

51 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 4

Helpful Votes: 40

Overall rating:

4.9 out of 5

11 Night Panama Canal (Fuerte Amador To New York)

Sail date: February 06, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Gem

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11020

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

We loved this cruise and this ship. I love the Caribbean island and think everyone should go through the canal at least once in their lifetime.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

It was great. We went to the Panama City Conference center and the bussed to the ship.. It was so smooth and easy.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

We mostly ate at the buffet. Cagney's was as good as ever and we love Modreno.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

We played Bingo a couple of times and many of the games put on by activities.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

We saw the stage shows. We especially enjoyed the Sea Shakers band.

Spinnaker Lounge

5 out of 5

Great place for game shows, hanging around during the day or evening. Love the staff there.

Children's Programs

No children

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Our room steward was very good. We enjoyed the Spinnaker especially Bryle. We enjoyed the Martini Bar servers, Rickson and Mildren

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

The Gem is our favorite ship.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Our first time in a suite and we loved it. Lots of room for 2 and loved the balcony.

Ship tip

Sit back and enjoy. Little things my go wrong but let it go and enjoy. Get to know the staff it makes the trip more enjoyable.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Fuerte Amador, Panama

5 out of 5

We stayed the night before and enjoyed the city.

Thumbs Up 0

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5

Everyone should do this in their lifetime. It was great to see and hear about the canal.

Thumbs Up 1

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

5 out of 5

We did the tram over the rain forest-.It was good and worth the ride there.

Thumbs Up 0

Oranjestad, Aruba

5 out of 5

We did the Sea and See excursion. The underwater boat was great! Seeing the island was good.

Thumbs Up 1

Willemstad, Curacao

5 out of 5

We loved Curacao even though it rained while we were at the beach but it was a beautiful island.

Thumbs Up 0

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

We went on the rain forest- excursion. We enjoyed the walking paths and lunch.

Thumbs Up 0

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

5 out of 5

I have a bout of stomach bug but my husband said he loved the day pass to Ocean World especially snorkeling in the fish tank.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

We did a transfer with NCL to the airport.It was good but being the first time doing that I wished they had told me where to meet the bus outside the terminal.

Traveler Photos

4 Comments

Other reviews of this sailing

That’s great experience to sail from NYC to Panama, get away from the cold to sunny Caribbean. The trip overall was good, but the buffet was average, the set dinners were excellent. The only complaint is the WiFi network worked intermittently.